ADDRESS OF PAUL F. EVE, PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. GENTLEMEN OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: WE meet under most auspicious circumstances, and have been welcomed to the most favorable position ever occupied by our profession on this continent. The very ground on which we stand may be considered sacred; has been set apart from a common to a special purpose, and is national. Invited as we have been to this magnificent temple, furnished and dedicated, by a generous foreigner, to science; in the presence of that towering monument, designed to commemorate the worth of him ever enshrined first in the hearts of his countrymen; surrounded by the glorious recollections constantly associated with this government; and before the great men and assembled wisdom of the nation: it becomes us to discharge the important duties which have called us together, with honor to ourselves and benefit to our profession. Inspired by its benevolent spirit, and invoking the aid of an ever present and omnipotent God to preside over our deliberations; we may here renew our professional obligations, learn to love each other better, and resolve henceforth to be more faithful to our high vocation, that its dignity may be maintained and its usefulness extended. Knowing, as I do full well, the value of time in our short sessions, and how much is expected from this meeting, the half hour set apart for this customary address will be restricted to subjects appropriate to the occasion. From this stand-point in the history of our meetings, it is proper to recall what has already been achieved, that we may be better prepared profitably to engage in the labor now awaiting our deliberations. This summary of our transactions is the more necessary, since, by a disastrous fire in 1851, the first four volumes of our proceedings have been destroyed, and are of course inaccessible to all new members: the last report of the Committee on Publication having announced the fact that not one complete set of them was now on sale. The grand object of a convention of the physicians of the United States, held the previous year in the city of New York, was carried into effect in Philadelphia, May, 1847, by organizing this Association; and, just ten years ago, the first general assembly met in Baltimore. Since then annual meetings have been convened in our large cities for the transaction of business, and the proceedings regularly published each year. Ten large octavo volumes now comprise the Transactions of the American Medical Association, being the contributions of its two thousand members delegated to represent the medical institutions of thirty States and Territories. As set forth in convention, the ultimate purposes of this body are to cultivate and advance medical knowledge; to elevate the standard of medical education; to promote the usefulness, honor, and interests of the medical profession; and collaterally to enlighten and direct public opinion in regard to the duties, responsibilities, and requirements of medical men; to excite and encourage emulation and concert of action in the profession, and to facilitate and foster friendly intercourse between those engaged in it. In carrying forward these desirable changes, embracing, as they do, medical science, medical education, and medical ethics, no one believes that we have done everything demanded for the good of the profession, or that all our great designs could have been attained in the brief space of ten years. The work assumed by the Association, it was well known, would take time, labor, and united efforts. It comprehended higher requisitions for admission into a learned profession; prescribed the course of instruction; demanded a separation in the teaching and licensing power; proposed a code to regulate the intercourse between physicians, their patients, and the public; and claimed that every one within its pale should assiduously cultivate the science of medicine and promote its best interests. And however extensive or radical may have been these contemplated plans, still, on the whole, it can safely be assumed that the American Medical Association has been no failure. It has advanced medical knowledge, and promoted the usefulness of the medical profession. There will be found in the ten volumes. of its printed Transactions, the results of the meetings held in Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Charleston, Richmond, New York, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Nashville, that no less than |